1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a remote controller, and more specifically to a remote controller capable of controlling a plurality of apparatuses.
2. Description of the Background Art
A remote controller generally functions as a device for controlling a specific apparatus. The keys and the other operation units provided with the remote controller accept an operation input for giving a specific instruction to that apparatus. Accordingly, some of the operation units not used by some users of the remote controller at all may be contained in the remote controller without change, and thus the remote controller has not always been user-friendly to some of the users.
For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 09-023487 has disclosed a remote controller which can identify a user, learn the use frequency of each function for each identified user, and change display patterns in accordance with the learning result. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-335064 has disclosed a remote controller capable of reducing operation complexity. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 05-049076 has disclosed a remote controller which allows users to handle additional functions having high frequencies as easily as the basic functions.
However, in the remote controller disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 09-023487, there has been a problem in that the display patterns cannot be changed until the learning is carried out. According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 06-335064, a user might operate mistakenly, because buttons having low frequencies remain on the remote controller body. Also, according to the remote controller disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 05-049076, when the number of functions having about the same frequencies exceeds the number of keys provided in advance, a function having a high frequency might not be assigned to a large-sized key.